Harper Lee tops list of must-read books

[ourmaninBusan]

...according to a big poll of librarians. From the Guardian

Harper Lee tops librarians' must-read list
MIchelle Pauli
Thursday March 2, 2006


It was published over 40 years ago and its American author has lived as a virtual recluse ever since, but according to Britain's librarians, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the book that everyone should read.

The Pulitzer prize-winning classic has topped a World Book Day poll conducted by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), in which librarians around the country were asked the question, "Which book should every adult read before they die?" The book, which has been a staple of schoolroom reading lists for many years, also came second in another poll released today on our favourite happy endings. It explores issues of race and class in 1930s deep south America, through the dramatic court case of a black man charged with the rape of white girl.

According to Diana Ashcroft, one of the librarians who voted for the book, it "has all the factors of a great read. It is touching and funny but has a serious message about prejudice, fighting for justice and coming of age."
Harper Lee is also likely to receive a renewed flush of publicity with the opening this week of the Hollywood film Capote, in which she is a key character.

To Kill a Mocking Bird heads an odd triumvirate at the top of the librarians' list: it is followed by the Bible and, in third place, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Further down the rankings, a mixture of classics and popular contemporary titles feature. Dickens and Austen both appear in the top 10, along with Philip Pullman's His Dark Material trilogy and Sebastian Faulks' first world war novel, Birdsong. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - both favourites of Richard and Judy's Book Club - also find a place in the top 30, alongside more established classics such as A Clockwork Orange and the Lord of the Flies. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code received just one nomination.

Mark Wood, chairman of the MLA, commented, "This goes to show that if you are stuck for something to read, you should ask a librarian."

The list in full
<<I've read the ones in orange.>>

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All [Quiet] on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

I've read the rumor that Capote is the actual author of that book,
and that he basically gave it to Harper Lee, but since I know nothing
of their relationship, I can't vouch for the truth behind that rumor.

[choozen1ne]

What no Harry Potter ?

[Robert Frost]

"I've read the rumor that Capote is the actual author of that book,
and that he basically gave it to Harper Lee, but since I know nothing
of their relationship, I can't vouch for the truth behind that rumor."

There was an NPR program the other day in which a scholar dismissed this rumor. He talked about a letter written by Capote a month before the book was published in which Capote mentions having read Lee's novel and how good it is. He also says the literary voice in To Kill a Mockingbird is much different from the voice in any of Capote's writings, and furthermore that Capote's ego was too big for him not to have told everyone he was the author if he'd actually written the novel.

And, uh, why is there no Shakespeare on this list? Were the selections limited to novels?

[UndercoverGator]

If you've done any extensive reading of Capote's books and the writings of Harper Lee you'll see that the styles are very different as well as the literary voices. It's very unlikely.

[Glasgow53]

I loved To Kill a Mockingbird, and read it when I was in Junior High. I couldn't put it down, and when what happens to the accused rapist happened, I cried and cried.

[AliceInWonderland]

they forgot "As I lay dying" -that shit will give you the chills its so good and of coarse my personal fave for obvious reasons; The Great Gatsby, I like to consider myself a real-life Jay Gatsby.

[buttmunch]

I've read the rumor that Capote is the actual author of that book,
and that he basically gave it to Harper Lee, but since I know nothing
of their relationship, I can't vouch for the truth behind that rumor.

I agree it's very unlikely that Capote wrote this book. I've read everything he ever wrote as well as Mockingbird and agree they are very different in their styles. That said, Mockingbird is truly one of the best books I've ever read. Just fabulous. But I can't believe Philip roth did not make this list!! Or Capote! Or Doris Lessing! Or Margaret Atwood! Or, for Christ's sake, Flaubert!! I mean, Madame Bovery is pretty much the perfect novel.

[Barbara]

I've read

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (too long ago, I'll have to read it again)
The Bible (almost all the NT, not so much of the AT)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien (the first 50 pages of the first book... didn't like it at all)
1984 by George Orwell
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (very cool book!!!)
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran (definitely a must)
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (I'm reading it right now !!! crazy book!!!)

[UndercoverGator]

Originally Posted by buttmunch

I agree it's very unlikely that Capote wrote this book. I've read everything he ever wrote as well as Mockingbird and agree they are very different in their styles. That said, Mockingbird is truly one of the best books I've ever read. Just fabulous. But I can't believe Philip roth did not make this list!! Or Capote! Or Doris Lessing! Or Margaret Atwood! Or, for Christ's sake, Flaubert!! I mean, Madame Bovery is pretty much the perfect novel.

Did you read Capote's posthumous work "Unanswered Prayers"? It's supposedly based on the sordid lives of his NYC society friends and the reason he was shunned by them the latter part of his life.

[buttmunch]

It's called 'Answered Prayers' (sorry!) and yes, it was good. Very catty, bitchy and vintage Capote. I'm sorry he never finished it. I also recently read a long lost novel from the very early days called 'Summer Crossing'. He never thought it was good enough to publish and although I sort of agree, it was extremely interesting to read and compare with the books that were published wihtin a few years. You could really see how his style and talent developed. I love Capote.

[UndercoverGator]

Thanks for correcting me on that Buttmunch. It's been so many years since I read it that I couldn't quite remember the title. It was an awesome send up of high society. I feel Capote was never given his critical acclaim in our world. "In Cold Blood" was truly the first well done book of the true crimes genre.

[buttmunch]

I'm sorry! I couldn't quite figure out how to correct without sounding snarky. Anyway, I think alot of people wrote him off a dillietante (sp?) but as my fave author, Philip Roth said, Capote wrote with 'gossimar vulnerability'. I liked In Cold Blood but LOVED Breakfast at Tiffany's, Handcarved Coffins, and especially the short story 'Children on thier birthday's' which was pure genius.

What I haven't read is any of his travel writing, which he did alot of during the late fifties and early sixties. Apparently it's fantastic.

[UndercoverGator]

I loved the stories he wrote of his elderly aunts and holidays. Cannot think of the names right now. Remember seeing him in PBS reading one of those stories and he was obviously drunk as a skunk, such a hoot!

No, you didn't come off as 'snarky' I knew I was probably wrong on the name and should have indicated that posting it. I don't mind being corrected sometimes..LOL

[Sojiita]

Whenever I hear "Harper Lee" I always think of her beating the crap outta him when they were kids and he was living with those aunts or whatever of his. She was a tomboy and he was a tomgirl! That "Answered prayers" was excellent but so got his butt discarded from his beautiful "swans" of NYC high society. How could he have not seen that coming? I LOVE how he got the title "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Just after World War Two some guy(afriend of his I guess) picked up a hot soldier and the guys had such a good night together that he was going to take his "soldier" out to breakfast, so he asked the soldier where he wanted to go, and the soldier, being a yokel and knowing nothing about NYC, said the only place he knew of..Tiffany's!

[buttmunch]

Great story...I never heard that one. I'll tuck that into the corner of my brain marked 'Truman Capote Lore'. Thanks!